"All this region is very level and full of forests, vines and butternut trees. No Christian has ever visited this land and we had all the misery of the world trying to paddle the river upstream." Samuel de Champlain

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~My English translation of an article published in local newspaper written by Alex Bernard

Johanne Dion, a devoted environmentalist

Born and raised in Richelieu, Johanne Dion is passionate about the environment, and has been since her childhood. She is dedicated so that we can all have a better world. The quality of her work has been recognized by Greenpeace that presented her with an award for her involved citizenship last December.

In the beginning of December, during the fundraising show for Fondation Rivières at the Mile-End Cabaret in Montreal, Greenpeace gave her their first award for citizen involvement to Mrs Dion for her voluntary contribution to the battle against shale gas in Quebec, through her blog and daily press review on the subject.

Already as a child, Johanne had a certain predisposition for the environment. She liked to listen to birdsong and smell flowers. On her first birthday, her grand-parents gave her a small tree. Even before the practice had a name, her mother composted kitchen waste for the vegetable garden as early as the '50s.

Mrs Dion is an activist so that she can swim once more in the Richelieu River. "My best memories of my childhood is going down to the river and swim to my heart's content. I had to stop because of the pollution. I was never able to accept that."

The activist is self-taught. Before the Internet, she kept abreast of the main environmental questions in America by sending donations to the most important environmental groups: they would send her documentation in return.

Mrs Dion discovered the opportunities of the Internet with the shale gas file. "Thanks to the Internet, I was able to reach out to more people. Before the shale gas controversy, I did not have my own email address, did not have a blog. With this battle, I was able to appreciate how information could be obtained for free on fairly complicated questions."

It's back in 1985 that she started to concentrate on the river (in front of her home). Mrs Dion started by trying to stop the tree cutting along the shore.

In 2005, she then got involved in the struggle to stop a pig farm project in Richelieu. With neighbors Hélène Lalonde and Odette Renaud, Mrs Dion co-founded the citizen group called Comité Richelois pour une Meilleure Qualité de Vie (CRMQV).

Mme Dion felt she had to get involved when shale gas talk started in her province. "Shale gas was one step too far. If water is monopolized for fracking and the treated waste ends up in the rivers, that's the end of it. I firmly believe that if citizens get involved, we can make a difference."

As things are going right now, Mrs Dion doesn't see the day when she will be able to go swim in the river again. "There would have to be real change in the way things are done. Money is too powerful, and it is something that environmentalists don't have enough of. We don't have the money to fight the PR and the powerful influence of big corporations. We would need a political will that isn't there. Once elected, compromises take over."

Despite this rather pessimistic conclusion, Mrs Dion intends to continue the fight. "I have to stay true to myself. I cannot give up. I do not have children nor grandchildren. I am not doing this for myself. I tell myself that future generations will ask us what we have done ( for the environment). I want to be able to say that I did my best." she says.

Every day, the activist spends some 4 to 5 hours to prepare her press review and her blog. The blog, called "Friends of the Richelieu" - "Les Ami(e)s du Richelieu" - can be found here: http://lesamisdurichelieu.blogspot.ca/."

I'm the second generation of my family that lives in Richelieu, Quebec, in Canada. My family tree, both from my mother's and my father's side, has its roots in Quebec since the beginning of the 1600s: my ancestors crossed the ocean from France, leaving Perche and Normandy behind them. Both French AND English are my mother tongues: I learned to talk in both languages when I was a baby, and both my parents were perfectly bilingual too.